With new FIBA qualifying format, Gilas grapples with disadvantages

MANILA -- Several months since changes in the qualifying format for basketball’s 2019 World Cup were enforced, national teams around the world have begrudgingly accepted the new order.

Competition at this stage is diluted now, because the NBA isn’t letting go of its players to see action in the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, held in previous years during the NBA offseason.

Gilas coach Chot Reyes

Now the sport’s world governing body is holding them just as the NBA season is in full swing, FIBA’s logic being that the current home-and-away format, patterned after the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, would bring the games closer to fans.

Without an NBA player on its lineup, Gilas Pilipinas doesn’t feel handicapped by a rebooted system in the same way that the United States or some top teams in Europe do.

But coach Chot Reyes acknowledges the cons outweigh the pros.

Reyes understands FIBA’s initiative to strengthen domestic support for each of the national teams playing in the qualifiers, but he is concerned that a spread-out schedule would complicate how the Gilas roster is assembled.